Share
Encyclopedia of Nanoscience and Society
Two Volume Set
Edited by:
- David H. Guston - Arizona State University, USA
July 2010 | 1 024 pages | SAGE Publications, Inc
Labeled either as the "next industrial revolution" or as just "hype," nanoscience and nanotechnologies are controversial, touted by some as the likely engines of spectacular transformation of human societies and even human bodies, and by others as conceptually flawed. These challenges make an encyclopedia of nanoscience and society an absolute necessity.
Providing a guide to what these understandings and challenges are about, the Encyclopedia of Nanoscience and Society offers accessible descriptions of some of the key technical achievements of nanoscience along with its history and prospects. Rather than a technical primer, this encyclopedia instead focuses on the efforts of governments around the world to fund nanoscience research and to tap its potential for economic development as well as to assess how best to regulate a new technology for the environmental, occupational, and consumer health and safety issues related to the field. Contributions examine and analyze the cultural significance of nanoscience and nanotechnologies and describe some of the organizations, and their products, that promise to make nanotechnologies a critical part of the global economy. Written by noted scholars and practitioners from around the globe, these two volumes offer nearly 500 entries describing the societal aspects of nanoscience and nanotechnology.
Key Themes
- Art, Design, and Materials
- Bionanotechnology Centers
- Context
- Economics and Business
- Engagement and the Public
- Environment and Risk
- Ethics and Values
- Geographies and Distribution
- History and Philosophy
- Integration and Interdisciplinarity
- Nanotechnology Companies
- Nanotechnology Organizations
"....This text is not about the nuts and bolts of the technology per se, but rather how nanoscience is affecting-and affected by-human communities.... Editor Guston (Ph.D., MIT; series editor, Yearbook of Nanotechnology in Society) is director and principle investigator of the Center for Nanotechnology in Society at Arizona State University; the roughly 200 contributors from an international who's who of academicians, scientists, and think-tank types.... BOTTOM LINE Nanoscience and Society is the set for the rest of us to turn to when confronted with sometimes unnerving reports of "frankenfoods" or other scare tactics advanced by the Luddite brigade. Strongly recommended for purchase by all public and academic libraries."
Washington Cty. Lib., Woodybury, MN
Library Journal
